Finally found what I've wanted since 'Nam

[Darrell]

1 hour ago, Johnny Rotten said:

Fellow H1'er caught this driving down the highway...

And in the fast lane.

I've flown in helis several times while I was in the Corps. They're noisy and bumpy!

[derf]

One auto rotation and you won’t get in another one. I don’t fly in anything that uses one nut to stay in flight. The Jesus Nut 

[Johnny Rotten]

5 minutes ago, Darrell said:

And in the fast lane.

I've flown in helis several times while I was in the Corps. They're noisy and bumpy!

Probably passing the Hummer, it's less aerodynamic than a flying brick.

[Grunt67]

2 hours ago, Johnny Rotten said:

Fellow H1'er caught this driving down the highway...

 

 

Now, that, is cool.

[Johnny Rotten]

31 minutes ago, FUJIMO said:

Wasn't headed toward knob creek was he ? 

probably not, there's no weapon mounts...lol

[FUJIMO]

1 minute ago, Johnny Rotten said:

probably not, there's no weapon mounts...lol

I figured those guys would fly in anyways. 

[Grunt67]

1 hour ago, Darrell said:

And in the fast lane.

I've flown in helis several times while I was in the Corps. They're noisy and bumpy!

Part of the fun, LOL

[Grunt67]

Saw a lot in 'Nam I'll never forget, but the most amazing thing was "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship. This was an AC47 modified with 2 General Electric miniguns in the left side of the plane. Capable of sending 6000 rds per minute to the ground ( usually 300 ). I could literally rain unholy hell down on the enemy.

My first & only encounter was one Sun. nite, after we had been in a firefight all weekend. Finally finished that, just as we were getting ready to rest for the nite , we were ordered to go to the base of a mountain where B Co. was in a firefight in a village. We were to be a blocking force to prevent B Co from getting caught in a cross fire. Shortly, Puff showed up, and rained down fire on the enemy. One solid stream of fire from plane to the ground. Every 5 rds was a tracer.

I'd heard about Puff during Infantry training, but this was simply awesome to see.

Later, mods have been made. Now there is even a Howlitzer.

Here's a screen shot of the firepower.

 

[ReeferMac]

The AC-130 has got to be one of the most versatile planes ever designed.... sure got their moneys worth out of that airframe.

[peejman]

13 hours ago, derf said:

One auto rotation and you won’t get in another one. I don’t fly in anything that uses one nut to stay in flight. The Jesus Nut 

Dad is a USAF guy... he calls helicopters "a collection of loose parts flying in formation".  Sometimes they break formation without warning.

AC-130.... the guy who sits next to me at work used to be a crew chief.   We service the engines. 

[OldIronFan]

2 hours ago, ReeferMac said:

The AC-130 has got to be one of the most versatile planes ever designed.... sure got their moneys worth out of that airframe.

My childhood was trying to stay awake during Dads slide shows of photos of countries I did not recognize and would likely never visit taken from the window of a C-130.

He rarely talked about the specifics of what his job entailed but I did occasionally get a story out of him. One of the better ones was of the steep spiral descents and landings they did into a ridiculously short runway carved into a bowl shaped valley in the mountains of Vietnam. Apparently it was short enough that taking back off light was sketchy. Taking off with any sort of cargo/weight required JATO. He did that a few times and said it was, interesting.

[Swamp ash]

On 10/5/2021 at 7:02 PM, Chucktshoes said:

I grew up on AF bases. Dad was Stationed at Ellsworth AFB for 8 years. It’s a B1-B base. I learned to sleep through MITs (Minimal Interval Takeoffs) at 0500 during exercises. Imagine the sound of two 4 engine supersonic bomber jets taking off in full afterburner every 30 seconds around a mile away. It would shake our house. 
 

I sleep like the dead now.

My old man was career USAF.  Back in the day, he would derive his flight plan to fly over the house and waggle his wings.  As kids we loved this.

I still react like Pavlov's dog to this day when I hear certain radial engines overhead.

[Swamp ash]

12 hours ago, Grunt67 said:

Saw a lot in 'Nam I'll never forget, but the most amazing thing was "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship. This was an AC47 modified with 2 General Electric miniguns in the left side of the plane. Capable of sending 6000 rds per minute to the ground ( usually 300 ). I could literally rain unholy hell down on the enemy.

My first & only encounter was one Sun. nite, after we had been in a firefight all weekend. Finally finished that, just as we were getting ready to rest for the nite , we were ordered to go to the base of a mountain where B Co. was in a firefight in a village. We were to be a blocking force to prevent B Co from getting caught in a cross fire. Shortly, Puff showed up, and rained down fire on the enemy. One solid stream of fire from plane to the ground. Every 5 rds was a tracer.

I'd heard about Puff during Infantry training, but this was simply awesome to see.

Later, mods have been made. Now there is even a Howlitzer.

Here's a screen shot of the firepower.

 

My dad flew combat missions with the EC-47 in Vietnam. It was unarmed, but a huge target because the NVA and Cong feared the AC-47, which by that time they were effectively knocking out of the sky.  He often flew with AC-130s and said the firepower those unleashed was incredible.

He had a huge problem with crew members/CIA intelligence operatives shooting M-16s wildly out of the plane drawing fire to it (his plane was shot up several times including a forced landing) so he had ALL weapons removed from his aircraft except the .38 S&Ws carried by him, the co-pilot and navigator.  Keep in mind, his missions were to locate and follow NVA field commanders moving along the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos & Cambodia so that they could be neutralized.  Ineffectively firing upon them was counter to the objective and dangerous to his plane and crew.

[Swamp ash]

I like these folks yard art! This T-28 is over in Coal Field

Edited October 7, 2021 by Swamp ash

[E4 No More]

On 10/6/2021 at 9:00 PM, Grunt67 said:

Saw a lot in 'Nam I'll never forget, but the most amazing thing was "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship. This was an AC47 modified with 2 General Electric miniguns in the left side of the plane. Capable of sending 6000 rds per minute to the ground ( usually 300 ). I could literally rain unholy hell down on the enemy.

My first & only encounter was one Sun. nite, after we had been in a firefight all weekend. Finally finished that, just as we were getting ready to rest for the nite , we were ordered to go to the base of a mountain where B Co. was in a firefight in a village. We were to be a blocking force to prevent B Co from getting caught in a cross fire. Shortly, Puff showed up, and rained down fire on the enemy. One solid stream of fire from plane to the ground. Every 5 rds was a tracer.

I'd heard about Puff during Infantry training, but this was simply awesome to see.

Later, mods have been made. Now there is even a Howlitzer.

Here's a screen shot of the firepower.

 

Not only do they have a 105mm Howitzer but also a 40mm BOFORS gun.

[xsubsailor]

On 10/6/2021 at 9:00 PM, Grunt67 said:

Saw a lot in 'Nam I'll never forget, but the most amazing thing was "Puff The Magic Dragon" gunship. This was an AC47 modified with 2 General Electric miniguns in the left side of the plane. Capable of sending 6000 rds per minute to the ground ( usually 300 ). I could literally rain unholy hell down on the enemy.

 

 A couple of passes would probably put an abrupt stop to the southern border problem  

[Grunt67]

38 minutes ago, xsubsailor said:

 A couple of passes would probably put an abrupt stop to the southern border problem  

Definitely, I made a suggestion yrs ago to put a M60 every 600 yds in a tower, fire on the first few across, the rest would take the hint.

[Grunt67]

2 hours ago, E4 No More said:

Not only do they have a 105mm Howitzer but also a 40mm BOFORS gun.

That they do. They are now loaded to the gills in armament.

[E4 No More]

35 minutes ago, Grunt67 said:

That they do. They are now loaded to the gills in armament.

The Smithsonian Channel (Dish TV channel 367) has been running shows on different airframes and covered the AC130 Specter Gunship in action. You ought to check it out.

[Grunt67]

48 minutes ago, E4 No More said:

The Smithsonian Channel (Dish TV channel 367) has been running shows on different airframes and covered the AC130 Specter Gunship in action. You ought to check it out.

Love to, but don't have cable/ sat. Tks, tho.

[ReeferMac]

10 minutes ago, Grunt67 said:

Love to, but don't have cable/ sat. Tks, tho.

Me neither... and as much as I hate to send eyeballs their way... boom:

 

 

 

Little google-fu goes a long way!

[Darrell]

Coincidentally, I saw a truck pulling a flatbed trailer with a helicopter on it this morning between Crossville and Cookeville. The heli was wrapped with blue plastic, but the semi behind it had a Sikorsky logo on the side of the trailer and the trailer had a retractable radome on the back. I think that second trailer was some kind of mobile test facility, though why Sikorsky would need to test remotely is a puzzle. Unfortunately the trucks didn't get off at my ramp so I couldn't poke around to see under there, but it was still interesting and reminded me of this string.

[Grunt67]

1 hour ago, ReeferMac said:

Me neither... and as much as I hate to send eyeballs their way... boom:

 

 

 

Little google-fu goes a long way!

I love the heck out of that. Always fun to watch. Enjoyed watching the Huey gunships. Rocket pods then were stationary,  and the Huey had to be tilted for aim. It worked well.

Pilots were my heroes. These young guys were crazy good.

Edited October 8, 2021 by Grunt67

[ArmyBrat61]

On 10/5/2021 at 6:52 PM, Grayfox54 said:

When at Hood I was in an Air Defense Unit. Chaparral missiles.  On FTXs it was quite normal for various aircraft to pretend to attack us while we pretended to shoot them down. Of course, I was just a mechanic, so I had no real part in the fun and games. While the missile crews were busy, the rest of us just had to deal with the noise. 

What was interesting was when the Air Force came to play. Fighter jets on strafing runs scare the chit outta ya! 

 

Chaparrals huh?  My Old Man played with these......

 

[ArmyBrat61]

Spooky

Angel of Death